Canada’s standoff with the technology giants Google and Meta over their use of domestic news content eased on one front, as the federal government announced Wednesday that it had reached a deal with Google to compensate publishers in Canada.
The agreement comes just weeks before a national law is set to take effect that will require tech companies to pay news outlets for using their content online.
Under the deal, Google will provide $73.5 million, or 100 million Canadian dollars, each year to news organizations, including independent outlets, Indigenous media and multilingual media. The funds will be distributed based on the number of workers each qualifying news outlet employs, government officials said.
“This is a historic development,’’ said Pascale St-Onge, Canada’s heritage minister, whose agency helps oversee technology regulation. “It will establish a fairer commercial relationship between digital platforms and journalism in Canada,” she said, adding that the new revenue is “good for the news sector.”
“Following extensive discussions, we are pleased that the Government of Canada has committed to addressing our core issues,” said Kent Walker, the president of global affairs for Google and Alphabet, in a statement.
The government’s talks with Meta remain at a standstill.
Canada’s national broadcaster, the CBC, said it was “very pleased” with the agreement and believed it was an encouraging financial development for other news companies, Leon Mar, a spokesman, said in an email.
Canada’s online news law, which was modeled after a similar law in Australia, had faced a backlash from tech companies, including Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and in August started blocking news content from the feeds of Canadian users.
Meta has argued that the law was based on a flawed premise that the company benefited unfairly from hosting news platforms and said that it generated enormous readership for media companies.
The law takes effect at a time when the news industry in Canada, as in much of the world, is shrinking under the pressure of lower advertising revenues, and depends on social networks for much of its readership.
In reaching an agreement with Google, Canadian officials said they were following similar negotiations between other governments and the tech firm. Germany recently announced a 3.2 million euro deal with Google involving German news outlets.
“If there is a better deal struck elsewhere in the world, Canada reserves the right to reopen the regulation,” Ms. St-Onge said.
Google had also threatened to block news access in Canada, but it agreed to continue discussions with the government. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said talks with Meta were stalled.
“Unfortunately, Meta continues to completely abdicate any responsibility toward democratic institutions and even stability,” he told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday.
